


Everybody screws up sometimes

by Ceciliedr



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst, Bat Brothers, Batbrothers (DCU), Batbrothers (DCU) Bonding, Brotherly Bonding, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne is Robin, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Mostly Gen, Protective Jason Todd, Protective Siblings, Rated T for language, Sibling Bonding, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27137290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceciliedr/pseuds/Ceciliedr
Summary: Damian has made a mistake and Bruce's reaction has him doubting his place in the family. Good thing Jason comes along to get that misconception out of his head. Damian is stuck with this messed up bunch of crazies and there is no getting out of it now.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Comments: 10
Kudos: 340





	Everybody screws up sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> I could not sleep at all last night, so you all get this angsty mess out of it. Even though I should probably be writing other things😅
> 
> Obligatory heads up, my knowledge of the batfam is mostly fanfic based.

Jason settles down next to Damian on the roof of WE. Their feet dangling over the edge.

“Heya squint.”

Jason looks at his little brother, when that doesn’t even earn him an attempted nerve strike. Taking off his helmet and placing it next to him. The night air cold on his face.

“You okay there?”

“I’m fine you imbecile.” No visible wounds on the kid, but his voice lacks its usual bite.

“Yes clearly, because Red hates coffee and Wing says no to hugs.” Jason snorts “why don’t you try again?”

“It’s no concern of yours.”

“Hate to break it to you, but as your big brother, it kinda is. Blame Big Bird and his insistence on family bonding.”

“It’s a private matter.” Everything about Damian’s body language bleeds defensiveness, shame, and hurt.

Jason aches for a cigarette. But he’s been clean for over a month at this point and Tim just stopped his relentless cyberattacks. Anti-smoking advertisements popping up on every electronic device Jason owns. Even his newest burner phone blowing up with texts telling how bad for his health cigarettes are.

Like the little shit has a leg to stand on with his caffeine addiction and insomniac lifestyle. Jason has resorted to breaking into Tim’s apartment and filling his freezer with leftovers more than once. Just to up the chance of the workaholic eating something at least somewhat regularly.

Maybe it’s time for more drastic measures. Jason pushes his plans to the side to be revisited later. Right now his other little brother seems like he needs his full attention.

“We are a family of nosy detectives with no sense of personal boundaries.” Jason rolls his eyes “who’s heard of privacy?”

Damian doesn’t answer, looking down at his hands. Jason bumps his shoulder with his own.

“Spill Demon Spawn, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I made a mistake.” His voice is small. Jason gives his shoulder another bump.

“You’re talking to the family fuck-up remember?”

Damian hesitates for nearly a minute.

“I killed someone.”

Jason finds that hard to believe. Not because the brat is incapable of it. Loathed as he is to amid it, Damian craves Bruce’s approval. No way he would risk it, not without a very good reason.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

Damian’s shoulders hunch slightly in on themselves. “We were fighting smugglers at the docks. The imbeciles tried to blow up their cargo to hide the evidence, so we split up to take care of it.” Damian is fiddling with his cape, the outwards show of nerves very much unlike him. 

“I was fighting a substantial group of them. Losing track of my hits. One man never made it out alive.”

“That doesn’t sound like your fault kid.”

Damian’s words are bad enough, so is his measured tone. But that he doesn’t raise even a token protest at being called a kid really has Jason worried.

“Mathew Collins, 43, died of acute kidney failure before the ambulance could arrive.” Damian’s voice is worryingly emotionless, he sounds like a robot. “The man had a spouse and daughter.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have never executed a potentially fatal hit.”

“It was an accident.” Jason makes sure his voice leaves no room for doubt.

“It doesn’t appear to make a difference to father.”

Jason sucks in a breath. Resisting the urge to curl his fingers into fists. Damn you to hell Bruce. Jason makes sure his tone is as matter of fact as he can make it.

“Sometimes people land wrong or their broken bone gets a deadly infection due to bad medical care. Just because Batman refuses to kill anybody outright, doesn’t mean people don’t die as a result of his crusade.”

Jason hesitantly puts a hand on Damian’s shoulder, shocked the kid lets him, even leaning slightly into the touch.

“Most people will be just fine after a blow to the kidney. It was the heat of a fight. You had no way of knowing he wouldn’t be one of them.”

“Robin has to be better than that.”

Jason can’t tell whether or not he’s directly quoting Bruce and kinda hates the old man for that fact. Instead, he lets out a snort.

“Take it from someone who used to wear the tights, none of us was ever perfect.” He once thought Dick was, before he actually got to know his big brother. Dick is great, but just a person. Even freakishly clever Tim has his flaws. Has bad days.

“Nobody is or ever will be perfect. The old man has made plenty of his own mistakes. Everybody does.”

It had taken years for Jason to realize that. To come more or less to terms with his own flaws. Bruce’s perfect ideal was nothing more than a pipedream. Reality is too messy for perfection.

“I was raised to-”

Jason doesn’t even let him finish that sentence.

“You were raised in a murder cult. Who cares what they think. You’re never going back.”

Damian flinches at his words. Not visibly, but Jason still has a hand on his shoulder. He can feel the reaction.

“Robin?”

Damian refuses to meet his eyes. Hunching further in on himself. God fucking damn it.

“You’re never going back to the League. Even if you for some shitbrained reason wanted to. We would never let you.”

The kid’s face is still filled with hidden uncertainty. Jason kinda wants to put a bullet in Bruce for being an emotionally stunted asshole. How could he ever leave Damian doubting his place in their fucked up family like that?

“Batman will never send you back. But that’s not even important, because we would abso-fucking-lutely never let him! Me, Nightwing, Red Robin, and the others will always have your back. You may be a Demon Spawn-” He ruffles Damian’s hair. “But you’re our Demon Spawn. Our little brother. You’re family kid, always will be and Batman doesn’t even have a fucking say in that.”

Damian doesn’t answer, but he does lean more firmly into Jason’s touch. Finally looking less miserable. Jason lets the city’s everpresent noise fill the silence for close to ten minutes before he decides to break it himself.

“Come on, you need to get out of that house for a while.”

Damian immediately starts to protest “no I have-”

“I’m not asking you kid, I’m telling you. You need some distance from Bats and time to work through this.”

“There is nothing for me to be working through.” Damian spits out.

“Yes, there is.”

“I will not follow along with your inane plan for-”

“Tough luck, I’m not giving you a choice.” The needle is through Damian’s skin before he can react. That doesn’t stop him from punching Jason in the got. Letting out a wheezing breath despite the armor. Jason hastily gets up and out of range.

“You will pay for this Todd,” Damian growls out.

“Yeah yeah Demon Spawn, remember no names in the field.”

Damian continues to glare at him, even as he stumbles and Jason catches him. Clutching his little brother closer to his chest. The brat really is just a kid. 

\--II--

Jason hardly waits for the window to open before he’s through it. Mindful of the kid’s head.

“The Baby Bat is your problem now.” Jason puts Damian in Dick’s arms before the other has a chance to protest.

“Look after him would you.” Jason can’t help but ruffle the kid’s dark hair, before he looks up to meet the questioning gaze of his older brother.

“What’s going on Jay?” Dick adjusts Damian to better fit in his hold, tucking the kids face into his neck like the little troublemaker was still a toddler. Good thing he’s not awake to kick up a fuss about it.

“It’s up to him to share the details, I’m no snitch.” Jason crosses his arms and hesitates “the old man screwed up again. Kid needs someone half-decent at emotions.”

“Why not you?”

Jason snorts “we both know I’m only any good at anger. Besides, you’re his favorite and we all know it.”

Dick looks him over before inclining his head towards the pull-out couch. “You’re more than welcome to stay the night.”

“Nah,” Jason wawes him of “I have a safehouse and a good book to get back to.”

Jason grins, taking a step back towards the window. “Have fun with the brat in the morning, he’s going to be out for blood when he wakes up.”

“You sedated him.” Dick’s not doing a very convincing job at hiding the amusement in his voice.

“Sure did.”

“And now you’re running back to Gotham before he comes to and tries to stab you.”

“Demon Spawn does love his pointy objects.”

Dick is grinning. “He will track you down sooner or later.”

“I’m all for postponing the inevitable.”

Dick is shaking his head, lips turned firmly upwards. “Don’t let him hit anything vital and call me if you need help getting stitched up afterward.”

It says a lot about their crazy family that Jason can’t tell whether or not Dick’s joking.

“Yeah yeah will do.” Jason wawes goodbye as he heads back out. Not kidding about getting back to his book, he’s almost at the stories climax.

The ride back to Gotham gives him plenty of time to think.

Maybe he should kidnap Tim for that vacation the kid so sorely needs. Damian is not the only one who could use a break from it all.

**Author's Note:**

> Having now been awake for over 24 hours, I feel obligated to point out how insane Tim Drake is for during it regularly.


End file.
